Direct debit to qualify for Santander 123 Current Account INTEREST?

YorkshireBoy

deanogiraffe wrote: »

I haven't read the full thread on this topic, so maybe someone already suggested this, but I have 2 Santander 123 accounts both with 20k in. To achieve the direct debit requirement, as I ran out of household bills to setup DD's with, I used charities instead.

I set up a monthly donation of 5 pounds to WWF on one account, and a monthly donation of 5 pounds to Wateraid on the other account. This satisfies the DD requirements, gives money to charity, and gets me my interest. Yes I am giving away 10 pounds, but I am still getting almost 70 pounds/month in return. You could just setup a charity donation of 1 pound a month to maximise your profit (min donation to WWF is 3 pounds and wateraid 2 pounds so you'd have to find a charity that takes any donation however).

If everyone did this, we would be, in effect, making the banks give money to charity, which I find a great deal of personal satisfaction in!!

I'm going to test your generosity now.

You do realise the DDs don't actually have to pay out each month don't you? Or perhaps you don't?

chris_m

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I'm going to test your generosity now.

You do realise the DDs don't actually have to pay out each month don't you? Or perhaps you don't?

They do have to pay out at some degree of frequency, though, surely? Don't they get culled after a period of time without paying out?
Maybe annually?

colsten

deanogiraffe wrote: »

If everyone did this, we would be, in effect, making the banks give money to charity, which I find a great deal of personal satisfaction in!!

errrm no, it is you who makes the donation. The bank just passes your money to whoever you authorised to collect it.

YorkshireBoy

chris_m wrote: »

They do have to pay out at some degree of frequency, though, surely? Don't they get culled after a period of time without paying out?
Maybe annually?

Usually the 'dormancy period' is 13 months, but some banks have been reported as cancelling them earlier.

capehorn

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Usually the 'dormancy period' is 13 months, but some banks have been reported as cancelling them earlier.

I've just had a nasty experience with this. I had two dormant DDs on my 1-2-3 account that were old and didn't pay out any more. This has been so for over 3 years this and was sufficient to qualify for the 3% cashback. I've just logged in to find that both have vanished and interest wasn't paid for the last two months.

No_6

For the last 2 MONTHs !!!
do you not do banking online ? serious moneysaving fan ?

eskbanker

capehorn wrote: »

I had two dormant DDs on my 1-2-3 account that were old and didn't pay out any more. This has been so for over 3 years this and was sufficient to qualify for the 3% cashback.

Since the opening post of this thread was all about the distinction between criteria for cashback and for interest, it's probably worth pointing out that dormant DDs are of course never going to earn any cashback but they do contribute to qualifying for 3% interest.

Ballard

capehorn wrote: »

I've just had a nasty experience with this. I had two dormant DDs on my 1-2-3 account that were old and didn't pay out any more. This has been so for over 3 years this and was sufficient to qualify for the 3% cashback. I've just logged in to find that both have vanished and interest wasn't paid for the last two months.

'Nasty' seems a little strong. No one got hurt, you just missed out on £80 interest.